My Daughter Ezima
by saruchan23
Summary: Based on the book written by Chinua Achebe: "Things Fall Apart". One of the smaller charaters POV named Ekwefi. Please read and review.


Saruchan: Hi…this is a creative writing assignment I had to write for my English class last semester. I'm so happy that I got the grade I wanted. Anyways…since you all know I write stories that are sometimes angst. And this one is no exception. I placed myself in Ekwefi's shoes and wrote about her sorrows. For my English class I had to read "Things That Fall Apart" so yea…I can't take credit because obviously someone wrote this book. Chinua Achebe wrote it. All I did mostly was go in dept into her character. Since this particular character had a very small role. Anyways…please r/r.

My Daughter Ezinma 

I walked along the water path in early morning. I am married to a man named Anene. I wanted to go to the man I fell in love with. His name is Okonkwo of Umuofia. He was the only wrestler in the nine villages to ever throw the great wrestler called Amalinze the Cat. The Cat was a great wrestler whose back never touched the earth for seven years. Okonkwo was the first man to throw the Cat on his back. I have always loved the wrestling matches. It excited me how the men could throw each other and make the sport look so graceful. I liked to watch the men wrestle rather than to stay at the house making food for the festivities. I looked back toward the village and know I could not return to Anene. I did not love my husband and cannot be faithful to him and his family if I love another. I looked toward the water and think of the way Okonkwo threw the Cat. I loved how all the men worshiped him. The only flaw of Okonkwo was that he was too poor to meet my father's bride price. If he had…I would not have been married to the man I was with. I looked to the heavens and make my decision.

I ran to him was not a whim of a thought. I had really thought about my life with this man. I ran to him since his house was on the way to the stream. It was as if I was leaving my old life behind me. I did leave my old family behind me. I would never return to that way of living. I could not so I had ran to the man I loved. When I reached his house I didn't know what to expect. I knocked on the door to see if he had risen. He came out and I was relieved when he accepted me into his hut without any words. He was the kind of man who didn't need words to express his feelings. I had left my old life behind when I left Anene. I allowed him to carry me into his house and make me his wife. I had no remorse. The clan could not hold me back from the man that I loved. Since Okonkwo accepted me into his life, I did not care at all. I would always stay by this man's side, because of that day I fell in love with him.

I bore my first child and was very happy. Okonkwo was happy; however, the baby soon died. We tried again and again to have a child live. I couldn't make a child live past its third year so Okonkwo found a doctor to hopefully solve our problems. The ogbanje was said to be living inside of my womb. I felt much despair. After my second child was born and past away soon after, Okonkwo found a medicine man. The other mothers my age were having babies and celebrated their child's naming ceremony. This is a ritual done after seven market weeks after the birth. I could not name my children when they kept dying. I felt that it was hopeless to name a child that may not live very long. I grew bitter with every passing child. I knew what the others thought of the ogbanje. I grew sad and fell into despair. I couldn't keep watching my children die at such a young age.

I saw it as the child's fate to die so I started to give names to my children that welcomed death. At first, I tired to give my children names that warded off death. The third child I had was named Onwumbiko, which means "Death, I implore you." He died just a little after he lived past a year old. Then the next child I had was a girl. I named her Ozoemena, which means, "May it not happen again." She died before she made a year old. I bore two more children after her, and they both died before making a year old. I hated the gods and the ogbanje that lived in me. I was slowly giving up hope. I saw six of my children die. What saddened me the most was that many of them did not live past their second year. I grew tired of this continuous death so I gave in and called my next daughter Onwuma, "Death may please it himself." Of course, she died…death did please himself.

I knew that my clansmen felt sorry for me. They thought that I did not know how they pity me. I didn't like it, and I did not do anything to stop their helpfulness. I did not want their pity; I just wanted a child to live pass its third year. However, after the fifth child was born then died suddenly I felt myself falling more into despair. Okonkwo felt sadden by my weakness and called upon a doctor. He was the only one who could see how the ogbanje preyed on me. Some others thought I was bitter; I had good reason to be bitter! My children kept dying on me. The doctor's words did not help at all.

He had told my husband, "When your wife becomes pregnant again, let her not sleep in her hut. Let her go and stay with her people. In that way she will elude her wicked tormentor and break its evil cycle of birth and death." That child was called Onwumbiko; he had died on the same market day as he was born. Onwumbiko was the child who was the first of many that the witch doctor helped bring a small portion of life to. He was my third child, and the doctor's words proved pointless.

During the loss of my third child, the doctor had asked Okonkwo, "Where do you sleep with your wife, in your obi or in her own hut?"

"In her hut," Okonkwo answered.

"In future call her into your obi." Then he told us to stop mourning that child. He later cut up my child so badly that it would think twice before returning to my womb to once again is born before it dies again. I mourned silently for the brutal way of his passing.

Back then; I did not care what happened to my children or myself. I felt sad because my children kept dying at such a young age. I felt so hopeless to not do something about this problem. I grew bitter and worked myself into a depressed state. My husband's first wife had already had her third son. Okonkwo had slaughtered a goat for her. I congratulated her but I was still sad. She took my sadness as act of hatred. I did not think she knew how I felt because I couldn't even keep one child alive for more than three years. I felt that I couldn't feel happy for them when I was so sad. I did not blame her for her happiness. I blamed myself for my own sadness. I know that in many villages there are a few women in the same state as I was. However, those women did not have a strong husband like mine. I finally had my tenth child. I named my daughter Ezinma.

My daughter Ezinma was born and I couldn't care less. I knew that she would die soon. I did not want to love her and grow attached. I felt that she would die soon enough, because she was an ill child. Although, she had the power to live I did not tend to her, as I should have. I was tired of seeing my children being born and then suddenly dying. However, I was very shocked when she lived past her third year. She became my world after she made it past her sixth year. I was still very worried that Ezinma would get ill and leave me just as all my other children before her had. However, since she was a sickly child, I would grow anxious every time she would fall into one of her spells. A point of sickness made her seem very ill I was really anxious for her health and emotions. I watched her struggle every time and hoped that she would not leave me. The children before her had all left me alone in this world. My emotions slowly returned. I once again started to feel love for my daughter, this daughter that lived. My chi was lifted and I started to tend to my daughter. I took care of her and made sure she was the center of my attention. I would not lose her too I could not. If I lost Ezinma too, I believe I would have thought I had made a terrible mistake when I left my old husband so long ago. Also I believed that Okonkwo sometimes wishes that Ezinma were a boy than a girl.

About a year ago when Ezinma was very sick, the medicine man had found her iyi-uwa. This was a stone that symbolized a stone to cut off the child from the spirit world. This would stop the ogbanje from retuning into its mother's womb and being born again and again. However, I was worried because she was sick and had hidden her stone. I had begged her to tell us where she had buried her stone. She didn't say anything. I thought she was going crazy, but I really believed she already was. She had led the doctor and Okonkwo on a wild chase, and when the medicine man demanded the stone's location she had told them she had buried it near an orange tree. I was relieved. I had watched the men dig deeper into the earth. The peace she wanted was somewhat already there. She had stood by and watched the men dig and was very calm. I was very happy when the men finally brought out the iyi-uwa. The medicine man had asked Ezinma if the stone was hers. She wanted to leave me, so she didn't answer the medicine man. She did not want to live on, but the sadness in my eyes had changed her mind. She took the stone and did not bury it again. I was very relieved.

I am now forty-five years old. I still love wrestling and I love my daughter Ezinma. I let her call me by my name instead of Nne. My name is Ekwefi. I let her decide on what we will eat sometimes. Also when I make eggs for her, I take her into our bedroom and let her eat them. Eggs are supposed to cause children into stealing and other bad things. I cannot say no to my daughter so I give her eggs in secrecy. One day, Okonkwo came into our hut and saw Ezinma eating eggs. He didn't like that and swore he would beat me.

It is now the time of the New Yam Festival and I had just used some banana leaves to wrap food in it. I am shocked to hear my husband yelling at us. "Who killed this tree? Or are you all deaf and dumb?" he bellowed. I told him what I had did, and then he beat me. I was very upset and angered at his treatment. I grumbled to myself that he couldn't shoot when he had said he was going hunting. He demands the boy who we were going to kill, to get the gun. Okonkwo had heard me grumbling and since he is still in a bad mood he ran into his obi and grabbed his gun. I notice this and run as fast as I can. I jump over the small stonewall near our barn when I hear a loud shot. He had shot at me and I hear my daughter scream. His other wives screamed too, and some of the younger children. I am badly frightened by this. I do not really think he would have shot at me if he weren't angry. I look up when he jumps over the wall. He looks down at me and heaves a heavy sigh; I cannot tell if it is a sigh of relief or of annoyance. I can't really tell when he is that mad, and I am pretty shaken by first receiving a beating then being shot at. However, I will forgive him and have fun with everyone else in the New Yam Festival. I will go see the wrestling match with the same enthusiasm as I had when I saw Okonkwo throw the Cat.

A few months went by and many things have happened to our small family. Okonkwo came home the other night with the smell of Ikemefuna's blood on his machete. However, it was the time of festivities; Okonkwo's friend Obierika's daughter was going to be married. They were still in the process of the bride price. The men had seen Obierika's son win in the wrestling match. It was a good time but sad too.

I woke to find Ezinma shaking and sweaty. I knew my husband would be mad but I did not care. My daughter seems as if she is embracing Death again. I run to Okonkwo's hut and pound on the door. "Who is that?" he growled from within.

"Ezinma is dying," I cried pitifully. I can feel my voice shake when I had spoken of death. Okonkwo must have known I wasn't lying because he came out quickly and almost knocked me over. He ran into my hut and saw Ezinma where I had left her. She is shivering on a mat in front of the fire that I had left burning all night. He looked at her and knew it is iba that is attacking Ezinma. He left to make medicine for her. I keep a close eye on her while he is gone. I do not want anything happening to my daughter. I try to think of any way to help my daughter, but I just had to wait until Okonkwo came back with the medicine. I wipe her head with a cloth to cool her body heat. I look at her sadly and pray that the gods will not take my child away from me now.

Upon Okonkwo's return he orders me to give him things. Then he starts to prepare the mixture very quickly. Since I am still worried about my daughter I am not very helpful to Okonkwo. He thinks he can do this all by himself. He then tells me to watch the pot and watch Ezinma when while the pot boils. I am unaware because I don't have any knowledge of what my husband did. When he left I made sure that the medicine did not burn and that Ezinma was still part of the living world. Okonkwo came back when the medicine is ready. I stay by Ezinma's side and let her cry when she is so scared. We had to steam the fever out of Ezinma. I could not lose my daughter. She is the only one who had lived this long. Also I did not want to try for any more children after her, so I cannot lose her. I listen to her cry and scream as we sweat the fever out of her. I hold her when Okonkwo lifts the mat.

After the fever incident, Ezinma is a carefree girl once again. She doesn't have many spells of sickness. Obierika and his future in-laws finally figured out on the bride price, is a time I will not forget. It is the day right before his daughter's wedding. It is a very dark night; there is only a half moon in the sky. We are telling stories in the house. My friend Chielo is taken over by her god Agbala. Suddenly Chielo's eerie chanting had put a stop to it all. She can be heard to want access to Ezinma. I do not like this because Ezinma just had recovered from the iba. She claims that the god Agbala wants to see my daughter Ezinma. I am so shocked. I want to go with her, but she refuses. After Chielo leaves I make up my mind, I will not lose my daughter. I do not want to be sad again so I will follow Chielo. As I leave Okonkwo does not try to stop me and I am relieved. He lets me follow her.

I follow Chielo into the poorly lit night. I had to hold my chest so she cannot hear me following her. I had to run to keep up with her and Ezinma. I am shocked that she can move so quickly with a burden on her back. Chielo never stops chanting. I think of the worse. I do not want the gods to decide that they want my daughter like they wanted all my other children. She led me around before going into the hills. I hope that Chielo does not find out I am following her when she told me to stay back in Umuofia. We first go through Umuachi. On the way there, she suddenly feels my presence.

She cries a warning, "Somebody is walking behind me! Whether you are spirit or man, may Agbala shave your head with a blunt razor! May he twist your neck until you see your heels!" When she said no more I continue to follow her. This is a warning I will never forget. All I want is to know that Ezinma is safe and that she will not leave me. We reach the cave and I do not wish to defy the gods any longer. I wait outside when she finally takes Ezinma into the cave. I wait and Okonkwo came, we wait until Chielo came out and went back toward Umuofia.

I believe that had sent our family into despair. Okonkwo killed a boy at a funeral and we were sent away to Mbanta. However, when we were sent away, things happen back at Umuofia. We do not find out about this until the events already have passed through every village. It seems that white men have taken over many villages. Also it seems that some of our clansmen are following these white men and their god. I feel like our clans are falling apart. I feel that nothing will be the same again. Then I think back on that day I followed Chielo. I wonder to myself if I hadn't followed Chielo would our lives be the same as they are now? I watch as Nwoye joins the missionaries and how Okonkwo does not wish him to be his son. I feel his mother's pain at having lost her son. I know her pain for I had lost many children. I stand by and watch as the missionaries move into our home.

Later when we return to Umuofia, we do not cause a big stir among our clansmen. I feel at a lost. I watch these missionaries government take my husband and lock him up for asking them to leave. They do not wish to do things peacefully. The only good part is I got to witness my daughter's wedding. A part of me is saddened, because now I will not have her to myself any longer. In the end, I still lost my daughter when I tried so hard to keep her for myself. She wouldn't leave me emotionally but she had grown up. On the other hand I have seen my husband's dangling body. I cry for him because he cannot be buried in the earth with everyone else. He must be left in the forest of Evil. In that forest people are just left there to rot above ground so they will not pollute the earth. It seems that I lost everything when this white men moved into our village. First my daughter marries; then my husband kills himself. I, Ekwefi am all alone.

Saruchan: So what did you think? Did you think I deserved a B? Please review…reviewing helps us writers become better at what we do!


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